In the Higher Courts, 95% (640) of defendants proven guilty received a custodial order as their principal sentence, compared with 13% (888) in the Magistrates' Courts and 19% (22) in the Children's Courts (Table 2.1.).

Across all court levels, defendants were predominantly issued with a custodial order as their principal sentence where their principal federal offence was sexual assault (86%) or illicit drugs (72%). Those defendants with a principal federal offence in the category of offences against justice procedures were predominantly sentenced to a monetary order (70%) (Table 2.9).

Defendants sentenced to non-custodial orders (community supervision or work orders, monetary orders and other non-custodial orders) accounted for 80% (6,163) of defendants proven guilty across all court levels. Within the Magistrates' Court, 6,039 (87%) of defendants proven guilty were issued with a non-custodial order and in the Children's Court, 92 (81%) defendants proven guilty were issued with a non-custodial order (Table 2.1).

For the combined court levels, defendants who had a principal sentence of community supervision or work orders most commonly had a principal federal offence of fraud and deception (78%) or abduction and harassment (11%). Those with a principal sentence of monetary orders most commonly had a principal federal offence of offences against justice procedures (29%) or fraud and deception (27%) (Table 2.9).